Helping hands

Junior high students donate project porfits to Good Shepherd

Tonganoxie Junior High School students have gone out of their way to help others.

Chris Weller's industrial arts classes donated $500 to the Good Shepherd Thrift Shop and Food Bank -- just in time for the Christmas holidays.

The proceeds came from a study in mass production in which students crafted reindeer holiday decorations.

"In the past, we've always taken the money we made -- the profit -- and bought tools for the shop," Weller said. "This year the students decided it would be better to give the money to the thrift store."

The students' attitude was different than if they had merely donated cans of food from their kitchen shelves at home.

"These kids worked their tails off on this mass production," Weller said. "And it's really their money. They are the ones who decided to give it to the thrift store, which is a pretty mature thing to do when you're talking about ninth-graders."

Weller said his students began the project planning to craft 75 reindeer. They were so enthused about it that they wound up making 110 reindeer.

The students set up several work stations, with one student cutting ears, one cutting out the bodies and one painting.

That's the point of the project, Weller said -- to learn how an assembly line works.

After manufacturing the reindeer, the students sold them. The reindeer sold for $10, with students allowed to keep $2 for commission.

"Some of the students donated their commission," Weller said. "And some of them chose to keep their commission, which was fine, too."

Weller said he was proud with the work done by all the students.

"This is probably one of the hardest-working groups I've ever taught," Weller said. "The quality that they worked and their speed -- they just got after it."